Creditor Gives Trinidad Airline Reprieve

Published 8:00 pm, Wednesday, May 28, 2003

Creditors returned two planes seized from BWIA because of overdue lease payments, and agreed Thursday to give the Trinidad-based airline a four-month reprieve on further debt payments, officials said.

The International Lease Finance Corp. reached its agreement with government officials Thursday, said Keith Rowley, planning and development minister.

The government, which owns a third of the airline, requested the meeting after the leasing company threatened to seize more planes if a $5.5 million payment was not made. The airline owes the company $15 million.

The government said it would loan BWIA the money for the first payment, and would guarantee further installments until the debt was repaid over the next four months, Rowley said.

The leasing company seized two Boeing 737s at Miami International Airport last week, and said it would take six more if the company unless the company met its debt. International Lease Finance owns eight of BWIA's nine planes.

The seizures caused the airline's other creditors to demand immediate payment, Rowley said.

BWIA's total debt amounts to about $100 million, and the company's directors have said the airline could not pay the money owed and faces "out and out bankruptcy."

The agreement Thursday should ease creditors' anxieties, Rowley said, noting that BWIA will now be able to operate all of its flights throughout the busy summer months, the company's most profitable period, he said.

BWIA has blamed its financial difficulties in part on increases in security and insurance costs and a drop in passengers that followed the Sept. 11 attacks. The war in Iraq resulted in a further passenger reduction, the company said.